Kali's Story
by Ali007
Summary: The tale of a young fighter who infiltrates a group of adventurers in order to travel the realms and gain real world battle experience while hunting for the monsters that destroyed her home.
1. Chapter 1

**Kalindra: Dark one from the sea**

"Lar...ia..vi..en...La..ri..a...vi...en...La...ria...vien..."

Kali woke from her nightmares and listened to sounds of her sleeping party. She dared not open her eyes or give any sign of wakefulness and resisted the urge to touch her left shoulder blade. Too many of her group did not require sleep and she could not afford to let on about the turmoil ever constant within her. She forced her breathing to remain even and her muscles to relax. The picture of peaceful sleep even though her mind raced and her fingers stretched toward the hilt of her sword. She longed to leave the party but knew she needed the experience of battle and despite her desires she knew she had become wrapped up in some bigger plot.

From that first moment when this party of wayward adventurers had met the man Dar, a horse master and a mercenary, she had seen the opportunity for world and battle experience. A cleric, a warlock, a _dragonborn _paladin, a pair of wizards, a rogue, a pair of rangers, a warden; they would be her chance for vengeance.

She'd stolen her mother's bronze dragon scale armour and her father's long sword from Dar and followed the adventurers. Posing as the bastard half-elf child of Dar, a role she had played for a decade, she joined the group and begun her quest.

The New Alliance suspected nothing, trusting her story instantly. She proved herself in battle and that was enough for them. No questions of her past were needed; the guise of bastard better than any magical cloak or mind altering spells. She could move through the world without suspicion, hone her skills, and hunt; always hunt.

She breathed a silent prayer for courage to her war god Kord than listened to the sounds of the sleeping city.

The silence here was so different from that of the wilderness she had spent the past decade living in and yet it instilled a sense of peace in her she had not felt for a very long time. The bustle of the crowds and noise of the market reminded her strongly of her childhood home. The home she would never again know. Pain rose within her for the world she had been born into and lost, for the little girl with pigtails whose innocence had been washed away, and for the people who had been decimated in a burning city.

She would not let tears fall or a whimper escape. She funnelled that pain into the anger and bloodlust that would drive her actions in the coming battles. Without that fuelling her, she would not be able to manage. There was little left that kept her going these days; she needed all the pain of her past to keep her going.

With a force of will Kali slipped back into tortured sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1:**** Lariavien**

The early morning sunlight slanted through the silken curtains as the light sea breeze gently rustled them, revealing a large bedroom. The sheets, the decorations, and the atmosphere of the room was one of purity, cleanliness, peace, and order. The colours were bright and soft, various shades of white, blue and pink that added to the structured sense of innocence the room embodied.

A little girl no older than 6 with bronze hair and rich copper skin lay sleeping on the massive four poster bed made of solid white marble. Her features were shaped with the angular grace of the elves but softened by the moderately human structure of her cheeks and jaw. Outsiders would label her as a half-elf but her bloodlines were not half anything. A half-elf marries a half-elf and their child marries a half-elf and so on. Soon they are not half anything, 26 generations later you have a people in their own right and a shining city built on the sea.

The girl smiled slightly in her sleep as the breeze brought the scent of fresh breads and wildflowers up from the market. She sighed softly and was lost in sweet dreams of innocence.

"Kalindra...Kalindra... it's time to wake up my angel."

A young woman in a long white and gold gown sat upon the bed and smoothed the little girl's, Kali's, hair. Her features, though more mature and fully formed, were a perfect reflection of the sleeping child's. She wore the ornaments of a noble and a gold and silver ring with a nail sized star piece carefully mounted upon it. She had dark raven hair and alabaster skin.

"No mama I don't wanna." The child squirmed under the blankets and hid from her mother.

"Darling it is almost time for temple. Come and wash or I will have to get the dragon monster in here"

A young man in a silver and black uniform with the decorations of a war commander let out a mock growl and strode into the room. His hair and skin were a flawless bronze that made him appear as a living statue. His eyes were the precise same change of grey as his daughter's.

"I am the dragon monster and I am hungry for little girls!" the young man rumbled in his deepest voice.

Kali squealed in delight as the young man stalked toward the bed and began tickling her. She laughed and played with her father until he finally scooped her up and hugged her. Breathless and slightly flushed she hugged her father back until she was passed to her mother. Her father smoothed out his uniform and gently kissed her mother.

Her mother carried her to the private baths they shared in their rich manor house and washed her with a lilac scented soap. Servants brought clean, pressed clothes and dressed her in her finest white dress and polished shoes. A nanny watched over her, keeping her occupied until her parents were finished with their own preparations than Kali was given a garland offering of purple orchids. As the morning sun rose in the sky the little family, with a grand procession of servants, made their way down the clean cobblestone streets of the marble and gold metropolis of Lariavien and made their way to the temple citadel.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 : **Born of blood and ash**

Kalindra stood as tall and straight as she could on the dais, keeping her body as still as possible while the priest carefully painted the image of a grey hawk mid flight upon her exposed shoulder blade. She wore an exquisite white floor length gown with silver feathers embroidered on the hem and silver silken slippers. Her hair was done in big loose curls and was pinned up so as not to get in the way of the Priest.

Nobles and high ranking members of the Guard from all sectors of the city watched in pride as the little 8 year-old begun her rights of anointment. After the rights she would go and live in the maiden's house where, until she was 15, she would learn the ways of the God and learn to handle weapons of all shorts. She would than serve three years in the guard before taking the final ordeal of the Nobles. At age 18 she would go into the world alone and slay one of dragon kind in honest combat to prove herself forever in the eyes of the God. When she brought home her trophies of scale and tooth and claw she would be welcomed into adulthood and granted all the rights of citizens. At that point she would join her parents on the council, choose her job, and be wed to whichever suitor proved his strength in a challenge of her making.

This was when she put away her childhood and began the journey to adulthood.

The priest finished with the hawk painting and began speaking the holy words. Kali was in a daze as the priest began gathering his anointing oils.

A gong sounded faintly somewhere in a distant part of the city. The priest paused to listen. The gong sounded again, followed by another closer by, and a third, and a fourth. People began rising in their seats, fear etched on their faces. Kali's father leapt up and began running to the door, leading the lower members of the Guard. Cries rose up from the street. Kali's mother was suddenly next to her; she scooped Kali up and began running. She watched her father disappear into the crowd, brandishing his sword, as her mother carried her out a side door.

There was a crack of thunder and screams. People were running and screaming and the guards were racing towards the south district in full armour.

A boom and a roar shook the streets; Kali fell from her mother's arms, skinning her hands and knees. Smoke and ash soared upwards in a column of fire. Suddenly the sun was blotted out as a giant scaly monster flew overhead. Kali screamed with a fear and terror only a child could express.

Her mother was carrying her again. Running north and west toward the sun as explosions shook the city. The roars of dragon kind grew louder and close. Buildings fell like dominos and glass. Dust and smoke and ash filled the air, making it hard to breathe. Kali choked and wheezed. Her mother breathed hard with the effort of carrying her while running.

A roar sounded from somewhere behind them. There was a whooshing sound and suddenly the very air seemed to explode into flames. Kali screamed in pain with her mother as they fell to the ground. The painting on her back seared and flamed as the image was branded into her back. Her hair was charred to the scalp and all she could do was cry. Her mother whimpered and reached toward her. Half her face was covered in blood, her scalp was burned and her entire back was a mess of burns and gore.

"Ka...Kali...go to the north western gate...he...help will be there...go..." Her mother coughed and convulsed.

Kali sat shell shocked and scared, tears running down her cheeks.

"Kalindra go! Now!" Her mother screamed and pushed her. "Run!"

Kali rose and began to run; she slipped on the damp streets and fell a few times. Terror in the form of fire, ice, and lightning rained down and smote the streets as people screamed and fell. Some of them got up, most of them didn't.

When Kali reached the gate of the city she was alone and it was silent. Whimpers escaped her and her red stained dress was plastered to her body from the dampness. She shook from fear and she could not understand what was happening.

A figure approached through the smoke. It was a large and hulking mass that hissed gently, brandishing an axe taller than Kali. She froze as the red scaled dragonborn emerged into the clear street. It saw her immediately and grinned wickedly, baring sharp rows of red stained teeth. Kali whimpered and began to back away. The monster laughed and stalked toward her. She fell and began whimpering louder, scrambling over the fallen body of a dead soldier. Her hands found cold steel. Her hands were wet and shaky but they found the hilt of the short sword with natural ease. It was long and heavy to her child body but she knew it was her only chance.

The monster closed in on her with a menace, its lizard eyes training on its cornered pray. It took a step forward and raised its axe high. It took a painfully long time, relishing in the fear. The axe began its descend.

Kali's hands were slick but her aim was true. In a single movement she stepped into the creatures guard to avoid the weapon and shoved her sword at an upward angle into its stomach. The sword slid into a gap between its scales by sheer luck. Kali wrenched the sword free and swung again, and again, again until her arms felt like jelly. The dragon born lay in a lifeless heap.

Kali cried, her shoulders shook and she felt weary to the bones.

A burly man wearing armour and clothes made entirely from dragon scale and bone pulled Kali toward him. He had long flaming red hair and beard. He had the most menacing long sword ever forged on his side and had an aura of raw primal power. There was a symbol engraved on his belt of an eight pointed star composed of spears and maces. Carved into his sword was the image of a screaming hawk with a lizard creature clutched in its claws.

Kali cried into the heavily muscled man's shoulders until he finally stood up. He took her hand and smiled at her with pride.

"Come child."

The man walked Kali out the gates of the ruined, overrun city and out into the night. They walked together until the city was far out and all they could make out was the narrow peninsula between the city and the mainland.

Kali stopped to stare back at her lost home. She looked up at the barbarian leading her to safety and pleaded silently.

"What would you ask of me little dragon slayer?"

Kali stared out at the smoke and fire; she just wanted it to be over. She wanted the fire and the pain to disappear. She wanted to forget the awful night and never see any of it ever again.

The man laid his hand lightly on her branded shoulder and smiled thoughtfully.

"Hunt on, little fighter." Kord, god of seas, storms and fighters, courage and strength, foe of all dragon kind, gave the little girl a soldier's salute and stalked off into the night.

Kali watched alone as the ocean began to boil and skies to brew. Waves rose higher and higher as storm clouds darkened over the city. Rain began to fall in a thick sheet, making the city appear blurred.

Kali watched as hurricanes formed around the city and walls of water crash down onto her home. She watched as the cruel sea swallowed her former home. In a day the grand city fell; thousands of people, gone; everything gone.

She watched long after the seas had calmed until she felt her legs carry her towards the woods. She did not walk far before she came upon a small camp with a band of 9 mercenaries from abroad and 5 of her people. They went deathly quiet as she walked into firelight. A man she knew as a good friend of her father's recognized her after a moment. He spoke to her in hushed tones and she collapsed in his arms. He had her father's emergency trunk and managed to get her cleaned and changed before she fell into tortured sleep.

From then on she would live with these strange men and the remnants of her people to live as a "whatever" for hire. She would wait and train until she could avenge her people, her parents, and the God who saved her from death.


End file.
